Over the years there have been many devices invented for use by printers, artists and others in analyzing and comparing colors. Typically, there are two basic problems a user employs such devices to solve. The first is to determine the primary color makeup of a given color. The second is to select a desired color, and to know how the primary colors should be mixed to produce it. To these two basic purposes, users of color comparing and computing devices frequently add a number of related or similar uses.
With the availability of transparent material in sheet form, made from celluloid, plastic or the like, a new tool became available for constructing color comparison devices. Utilizing this material so that several sheets are employed, carrying differing shades of two or more primary colors, the sheets can be overlaid with different color shades imposed over the top of other shades to produce different colors. A number of color comparison or calculator devices employing such transparent sheet material have been invented, such as those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,240,053; 3,088,226; 3,088,227; 3,267,580; 3,3l4,l67 and 4,241,520. All of the devices shown in these patents are useful. But at the same time, none of the devices offers the advantage of providing a simultaneous display of a large number of color combinations made by combining either pairs or all of three primary colors, combined with the ability to easily change the display and to instantly be aware of the precise combination of the primary colors that will produce a given displayed color. There is need for a color computer wheel with these capabilities, and the present invention satisfies that need.